Sick Pacman Frog, what should I do?

[KerkeringJ]

Alright so I've posted about my sick frog before and here's where we're at (this has been going on for more or less a month now):

Originally he had a slight prolapse (now normal) and two sores on his underside (which are still there, although less inflamed), along with some bloatedness (now gone). This was determined to be because of an infection by my vet, so he was put on nolvasan for a little while. Throughout this whole thing my frog was molting like crazy, which he still is. He's had a tiny cyst since which went away.

Now I've noticed that he's continuing molting on his legs to the point where he barely has any skin left. I'm not sure if this is because I've been overdoing the nolvasan or if because he has something the nolvasan doesn't treat (like chrytid). Unfortunately if I treat him for chrytid it would continue to irritate the skin on his legs, and I'm worried he could start bleeding out.

I called the only nearby herp-vet, and he recommended halting all treatment and putting him on semi-wet peat moss, and you keep his underside relatively dry until it heals. He did acknowledge that he sees more reptiles and birds however, and isn't an expert on amphibians.

So what do you think I should do Pacman-Frog experts? Should I start a chrytid home-remedy? Should I just wait it out with him on the peat moss? Is there anything I should be worried about? His appetite is pretty constant, and he's behaving normally. Any help would be appreciated, and if any further info is needed just let me know!

[DVirginiana]

Is the vet who told you to stop the treatment the same one who prescribed it or a different vet? That's not entirely clear from your post, and it's VERY strange for one vet to recommend stopping treatment prescribed by another vet without seeing the animal or knowing its medical history. Like borderline unethical type strange.

Also, I'm not really 100% sure what you mean when you say he has almost no skin left on his legs. Are there open sores on them, or what? Can't really give you any advice on that without a picture.

If you put him on the moss, make sure you put him in a different container to feed him. You don't need him swallowing moss and getting impacted to complicate things. The moss recommendation strikes me as a bit odd... Usually a hospital setup for frogs is moist paper towels changed daily to keep debris from substrate getting into wounds. I don't want to contradict your vet, but it seems to me that moss could get into and irritate and open sores.

Also, why do you suspect chytrid? Molting excessively can be a sign of it, but it can also just be a sign of general bad health. It sounds like the frog is already in a bad situation medically, and I think it would probably be a really bad idea to start a long and stressful treatment for something he may not even have based on not a lot of evidence and without a vet's recommendation. If you have other reasons to suspect chytrid or your vet wants you to treat for it, let us know, but otherwise I think that would be a bad idea.

Regardless, please post a picture of the frog and the current setup you have him in so we can get a better idea of the situation. It sounds very complicated, and a picture is worth a thousand words.

[KerkeringJ]

WOkay, I've got some pictures. One isof the legs and one is of the one on his back. The thing on the legs is that they're so peely that you can basically see all the capillaries, they're semi-translucent. He has sores on his belly as well, covered by his hand in the picture.

I suspected chyrtid because the shedding has been consistent throughout antibiotic and nolvasan treatments, so a fungus not eliminated by nolvasan would make sense. The doctor recommended stopping the treatment and putting him on moss to rest the tissue, but since his sores look a little more inflamed after being in it I may switch back to wet paper towels, which he's been on since the prolapse. Any help would be appreciated!

[DVirginiana]

The first picture isn't showing up, try reloading it.

As for the bottoms of his legs, it may just be a result of the camera flash, but they don't look like they have anything wrong with them to me. Is there redness, open sores, or swelling that just isn't showing up in the photo?
Having not seen the frog in person (and not being a vet) I don't want you to go against doctor's orders here, but it may be worth asking if they'll let you email them a picture of the frog's legs and see if they still want you to stop the antibiotic. From the first post I got the impression that the legs were basically skinless, so the vet may have gotten the same impression if you described it the same way. I think that's important, because antibiotics often don't show signs of improvement until near the end of the treatment, so it may be responding to them just very slowly (I'm not seeing any belly sores to speak of at the moment, so that's good at least).

If there are no open sores, I see nothing wrong with keeping him on moss for the time being as long as you move him before feeding. If wet paper towels works better for you though, just ask the vet if that would be acceptable. I imagine they'll say yes.

As for the increased shedding, it's not surprising that it would start around the time he got sick and started treatment. It could easily just be due to the stress of the whole situation. Unless something else happens that makes you absolutely sure it's chytrid I'd stay away from treating for it right now. That's a long, drawn out process that's stressful for you and the frog, and for a problem that isn't super common in captive bred animals.

[KerkeringJ]

Thanks for the quick response! I'll try to fix the first picture, there are two more on his underside that have been there for a while now. I suppose nolvasan soaks might have been keeping them from healing properly though.

For what it's worth, he's also had some watery bloating at first that's now disappeared after the nolvasan soaks, and the sore on his back came about because of a burst cyst. Anything I should be looking out for?

It's really hard to see with the flash, but I do feel like the layer of skin on like the inside of his legs is absurdly thin.

[DVirginiana]

Okay, the pic is working now.

The sore on his back doesn't look bad at all. Probably would be fine if you did nothing. Putting a bit of PAINKILLER FREE Neosporin on it won't hurt anything though. The painkiller-free bit is important; painkillers can seriously harm the frog.

The skin on the legs does look thin, but it's not abnormal. It should have an almost translucent look and maybe a slight tinge of pink (you'll notice the inside of the front legs look the same way). You've got a problem if the underside starts to look red or inflamed, but this seems okay to me. I think it's definitely worth a call to double check if the vet still wants you to quit the antibiotic treatment.

If he starts to bloat up again, you can do a honey soak. 5-6 drops of honey in a tub of luke-warm water up to the frog's chin for about 15 minutes.